Tuesday, 3 June 2014

Truman Brick Lane grists 1924 - 1940

Yes, I've not done spinning words from those few tables of numbers.

This time it's the stuff that provides the fermentable materials that we're looking at. Malt, sugar and adjuncts. I've had to fiddle with the number a bit because they were specified in quarters. And a sugar quarter is only 224 lbs, as opposed to the 336 lbs of a malt quarter. So I've adjusted the sugar and caramel figures to be 336 lb quarters.

One word of caution. We've already seen how there was a big shift from Porter/Stout to Ale in Truman's output over this period. That makes trends in ingredient usage harder to spot, because the ingredients for Ale and Stout differ. In 1910, the last year for which I have Brick Lane brewing records, neither of the two Ales, X and LK, contained either black malt or caramel. While all their Porters and Stouts did.

If we combine the caramel and black malt percentages, they start at 5.14% in 1924 and fall to 3.38% in 1940. That's a fall of around 50%. But production of Porter and Stout fell by more than 100% over the same period. My conclusion? Truman had started using caramel and black malt in some of their Ales.

I think I can understand why. You will, too, when we look at how Truman's beer range changed between 1910 and 1940. Which is what we'll be doing next time.

The most obvious long-term trend is the increase in the use of sugar, rising steadily up to a peak in 1934 then falling back again a little.

Malt usage is around 75% all the way through, except for the difficult year of 1933, where it dropped just below 75%. I was surprised to see the share of maize decline. That could be connected to which styles were being brewed as some contained maize and others didn't. At least that was the case back in 1910.

Here are the tables:

Truman Brick Lane grists 1924 - 1940 (qtrs of 336
lbs)

Year

Malt

Maize

Sugar

Caramel

Black

Total

1924

36,541

2,732

4,917

865

1,530

46,586

1925

40,789.5

3,323

6,222

1,150

1,426

52,910

1926

40,707.5

3,332

6,680

1,152

1,524

53,396

1927

41,395

2,748

7,319

1,164

1,042.5

53,668

1928

40,438.5

3,019

7,641

1,054

1,204

53,357

1929

38,145

3,263.5

7,415

962

1,035

50,820

1930

41,626

2,864.5

8,917

1,124

803

55,335

1931

39,365.5

2,994

8,780

1,110

628

52,878

1932

36,450.5

3,042

8,305

1,016

692

49,506

1933

26,719.5

2,589.5

7,307

851

821.5

38,288

1934

33,364

2,557

9,086

914

928

46,848

1935

36,248.33

2,264.17

8,980

854

851.5

49,198

1936

38,543

2,434.5

9,261

936

926

52,101

1937

38,508.5

2,465

9,310

861

1,097

52,242

1938

39,372

2,478.5

9,626

964

891.5

53,332

1939

39,061.33

2,521.33

9,545

714

1,084

52,926

1940

38,756

2,320

8,961

650

1,100

51,788

Source:

Document B/THB/C/256c held at the London Metropolitan
Archives

Truman Brick Lane grists 1924 - 1940 (%)

Year

Malt

Maize

Sugar

Caramel

Black

Total

1924

78.44%

5.86%

10.56%

1.86%

3.28%

100.00%

1925

77.09%

6.28%

11.76%

2.17%

2.70%

100.00%

1926

76.24%

6.24%

12.51%

2.16%

2.85%

100.00%

1927

77.13%

5.12%

13.64%

2.17%

1.94%

100.00%

1928

75.79%

5.66%

14.32%

1.98%

2.26%

100.00%

1929

75.06%

6.42%

14.59%

1.89%

2.04%

100.00%

1930

75.23%

5.18%

16.12%

2.03%

1.45%

100.00%

1931

74.45%

5.66%

16.60%

2.10%

1.19%

100.00%

1932

73.63%

6.14%

16.78%

2.05%

1.40%

100.00%

1933

69.79%

6.76%

19.08%

2.22%

2.15%

100.00%

1934

71.22%

5.46%

19.39%

1.95%

1.98%

100.00%

1935

73.68%

4.60%

18.25%

1.74%

1.73%

100.00%

1936

73.98%

4.67%

17.78%

1.80%

1.78%

100.00%

1937

73.71%

4.72%

17.82%

1.65%

2.10%

100.00%

1938

73.82%

4.65%

18.05%

1.81%

1.67%

100.00%

1939

73.80%

4.76%

18.03%

1.35%

2.05%

100.00%

1940

74.84%

4.48%

17.30%

1.26%

2.12%

100.00%

Source:

Document B/THB/C/256c held at the London Metropolitan
Archives

Next time we'll be looking at which beers Truman brewed in the interwar years.